Charlotte Street Blues rolls onto Charlotte Street on June 11, 2009 with a sensational performance by the London Community Gospel Choir, a set by the Stevie Ray Vaughan influenced Bex Marshall and an exclusive UK show by Boston-based Eileen Rose. Furthermore, its exciting and diverse music programme of 'Live Blues 7 Nites' promises to bring some much needed life back to this overlooked end of the famous Fitzrovia street.
Music @ Charlotte Street Blues
Charlotte Street Blues will feature a nightly rotating programme of events, with the intention of helping new British and Irish Blues bands make their mark in the industry while also promoting more established home-grown and international groups. Forthcoming highlights include Mississippi Heat (June 27), John Lee Hooker Jnr (July 16) and Dwayne Dopsie (27/28 July).
Parisian-born musical director Sophia NATSO, whose colourful career includes promoting new-talent at Glastonbury and last year’s London Bossa Nova Festival, says: “I have always been passionate about the Blues because it covers a variety of genres from Bluegrass to Rockabilly to Rock n Roll to Roots something for everyone. And as Willie Dixon said, “The Blues are the roots, everything else is the fruits.”
Monday: Monday Night Blues
Down a julep or two with the best in traditional blues and favourites that everyone will know. Free entry all night except Dwayne Dopsie (27 July) £15
Tuesday: Swing Mon Amour
A dress up dance night by Benoit featuring DJ's El Niño, Kamikaze and surprise guests. Cover charge £7/£5 members from 9pm except Dwayne Dopsie (28 July) £15
Wednesday: Blues Jam Session
Richard Pavitt hosts the night in which anyone can get up there and jam on stage. See the website for more details.
Thursday: Sixes and Sevens
Rhythm & Blues and Northern Soul hosted by Izzy Ducasse (aka Gareth Thomas). £7/£5 members cover charge after 9pm
Friday: Newcomer Blues
Hot new British Blues acts including Vulnerable Things (June 12) and Silver Brazilians. David Freeman DJs. £7/£5 members cover charge after 9pm
Saturday: Big Name Headliners inc Mississippi Heat (June 27) £15, Never the Bride and more.
Sunday: Gospel Brunch (1-4pm) featuring London Community Gospel Choir. Pay one price for live hallelujah music, Bloody Mary and soul food buffet. £15
Drink @ Charlotte Street Blues
A fully comprehensive menu of drinks is available in all 3 bars, including ice-cold beer served at tables in 3 pint poly-carbonate portable beer taps for just £9; half litre carafes of house wine at just £10; real ale sold from barrels in chilled jackets; 80 varieties of Bourbon; and the signature house cocktail, a Charlotte Mint Julep, served in traditional tin cups, at £5.50 a go.
Eat @ Charlotte Street Blues
Well-priced bar food is available day & night, from cones of popcorn chicken (£4.50) to clam chowder ((£4.50), California rolls (choose 2 from a selection for £6) to 'sliders' (choose a3 for £12.50 from lobster medallions, crab, grilled marinated tuna, smoked salmon and more, all served in mini brioche rolls with salad or chips and snow peas). On Sundays the menu changes for the Gospel Brunch, a soul food buffet price (£15) featuring comfort classics like pancakes, waffles, Frogmore stew, Jambalaya and Caesar Salad.
A 2 course set lunch will also be available at £6.95. Choose from starters, mains and deserts including lip-smacking barbecue ribs with sweet potato chips, grilled chicken breast with hummus and grilled vegetables, and Mississippi Mud Pie.
Art @ Charlotte Street Blues
Charlotte Street Blues will offer gallery space for artists and photographers free of charge (and without a percentage) in The Green Room. The only criteria is that once a work is sold, the space must be filled within 7 days otherwise it will go to the next person on the list. For info how to get a place on the list please see the website. Upstairs, The Porch will be exhibiting an exclusive commission by artist Alice White (http://alicewhiteart.com), whilst Mook's Bourbon Bar will host some exciting loaned exhibitions, starting on June 11 with a very big surprise name.
A Wander Round Charlotte Street Blues
Occupying a beautifully renovated three storey Georgian house, Charlotte Street Blues can be glimpsed from afar by its warm neon sign. Closer still, from its al fresco terrace, you can peer through the French windows into the dark blue space and, perhaps, a band playing on the distant stage.
Designed by Louise Belson, the interior develops the idea of Blues bar as a simple front room. Enter through solid wood doors into what feels like a private house or a Chicago speakeasy, and take the “keyboard stairs” down to The Green Room, where you can dump your laptop in the left luggage lockers, stick a 45 on the 1930s jukebox, shoot a game of pool, or just rest your weary bones on reclaimed theatre seats.
Back upstairs to the right is The Parlour, with its wood-panelled distressed terracotta walls to be adorned with signed, framed photographs of every band playing at the venue. Here you can munch on quality bar food, or skirt round the timber-clad bar, with its mirrored back bar and ceiling, to the snaking banquette created from reclaimed leather car seats, raised to give a perfect view of the band.
Past the stage, high enough for everyone (even at the back of The Parlour) to grab a view, is the curved wood staircase leading up to The Porch, a mezzanine area with sunny atrium ceiling, which, speckled with wicker furniture and climbing plants, feels a little like the exterior of a New Orleans house.
From there plunge into the darkness of Mook's Bourbon Bar, where enticing shelves groan with 80 varieties of the hard stuff, and knackered old leather seats support the inebriated and/or the conversational. Follow the main staircase with its Blues-inspired collages and red walls back down to the exit.
